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Can anyone help with research on the Pattern 1862 Whitworth and the Pattern 1863 Whitworth Short Rifle, made at Enfield?
There were circa 5,500 rifles made by Whitworth and/or the Manchester Ordnance and Rifle Company. Exceeding this figure were the Whitworth rifles made at Enfield and issued for troop trials. With the apparent positive initial trials of the 1,000 Pattern 1862 Whitworth rifles, some 8,100 Pattern 1863 Whitworth Short Rifles were made in 1863-1864. The steel barrels of the Pattern 1863 were supplied by Berger, Cornforth and Firth in blank form, and by Whitworth in rifled form.
The trials rifles were mostly sold off to the trade in 1869 and many went to Robert Hughes Universal Firearms Works and were exported to South Africa. A number were retained and used for the Queen’s Final at the NRA Meetings of 1867-70.
If anyone knows of one of these, please inform me of (a) the serial number, (b) the date in the form 2/64 (not the 1862/1863 on the lock as they all had this) and, (c) the Pattern 1863 barrel supplier, Berger, Cornforth, Firth or Whitworth. All marks are UNDER the barrel / tang and cannot be seen without barrel removal.
